Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 2-5 Experience)
A heavy-yielding variety loaded with gorgeous fruit. One of its standout qualities is its astonishing fruity flavor. Much like a fine wine, it improves with age. The seed breeder recommends giving picked fruit a couple of days on the counter to “cure” so the flavors fully develop. Beautiful, delicate pastel striping.
The two most delicious varieties I have ever eaten are Blush and Maglia Rosa. Pure candy. And they complement each other perfectly in growth habit and fruit shape. Planting them as a side-by-side pair is stunning.
I fell in love with these little gems!
They were the very first to ripen among my taller varieties, with Blush following right behind on their heels. What a wonderful duo!
Hunting down these seeds was definitely worth the effort. Huge props to Tomatanya 😘🙏
Edited January 12, 2025 by Drosera
Grew one plant inside my polycarbonate greenhouse on the north wall. LOVED it 👍
Sweet, delicious, very productive. Was the very earliest to ripen, yet kept bearing right until frost, a real marathon performer 😄
Trained it to two stems initially, then just let it branch out on its own, but it never got unruly. Pruned suckers lightly here and there. Its height was ideal for the side wall of an arched greenhouse, right around 4 ft (1.2 m). You could easily run it on the sunnier side too since it has dense, protective leaf cover.
A wonderful variety that came with top recommendations from @LanaD.
Ran two plants. Outdoors in the open dirt, with zero suckering, it stayed compact at roughly 2 ft (60 cm). In the greenhouse, it stretched noticeably taller, slightly over 3.3 ft (1 m). Left it unpruned in there too, and the yield was huge!
Fruit are sweet, pink-striped elongated bullets weighing up to 0.9 oz (25 g).
Edited September 10, 2019 by Svetikk
Oh, wow! I don’t have this one in my collection yet…
This variety is pure fire! You simply cannot walk past the plant without stopping to stare, total eye-catcher. Sweet, intensely fruity little tomatoes. Highly recommended!
Maglia Rosa: early ripening and super sweet!
Completely agree with the folks, stellar variety. Sweet little bullets 👍
Edited October 31, 2022 by Natalya79
Grew it again this season, this time from my own home-saved seeds. It pushed out compound, branched trusses and made my day. Flavor was top-tier!
This variety earned a permanent spot for me simply by holding up in pristine condition all the way until New Year’s Day 😲
Of course, I didn’t store fully ripe fruit. I put breaker and green cherries into a basket and left them at the country house next to an unlit radiator, where it sat right around 50°F (+10°C). Only Maglia Rosa and Slavyanka stayed smooth, unwrinkled, and delicious.
And Maglia’s flavor was far more complex.
The only small downside was that my plants stayed quite short, roughly 28 inches (70 cm). This year, I am trying seeds from Batatovy Kuschi since they supposedly carry a slightly taller selection. If I can get that same fruit on a taller vine, it will stay with me for life.
Full Summary: Plant Habit, Flavor Curing & Post-Harvest Storage
- 🌿 Plant Architecture & Pruning: True semi-determinate compact grower. Stays around 2-2.5 ft (60-75 cm) in open ground or 5-gallon patio containers, and stretches to 3.3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) under greenhouse cover. Best grown with minimal to zero pruning/suckering to maximize cluster formation.
- 🍅 Fruit & Shape: Elongated oval/egg-shaped fruit resembling pink torpedoes or bullets, weighing up to 0.9 oz (25 g). Skin is a delicate pearlescent pink adorned with pastel yellow and lime-green marbling.
- 👅 Flavor & Counter Curing: Exceptionally sweet with complex, floral fruity notes. While delicious straight off the vine, allowing picked fruit to rest on the kitchen counter for 2-3 days softens ambient acids and allows the complex aromatic sugars to peak.
- ⏱️ Maturity & Season Length: Early-maturing. Regularly ripens ahead of standard indeterminate cherries, yet continuously flowers and sets fruit right until hard autumn frosts.
- 📦 Storage & Keeping Quality: Outstanding shelf life. Breaker-stage fruit picked before autumn frosts and held at cool room temperatures (around 50°F / 10°C) ripen slowly without shriveling, staying fresh and sweet well into December and January.
- 🌎 Proven Hardiness: Exceptional track record across USDA Zones 2b through 6, thriving in open Siberian soil as well as protected high tunnels.
Maglia Rosa was bred by the late Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds (Baia Nicchia Farm in Sunol, California). An avid cyclist, Hempel named the variety after the coveted maglia rosa (the iconic pink jersey worn by the overall race leader in the Giro d’Italia).
Two key horticultural insights make this variety unique:
1. Do Not Prune Heavily: Because Maglia Rosa is semi-determinate, aggressively removing suckers will drastically reduce yields. Growers should cage the plant or support multiple leaders and let it bush out naturally.
2. Post-Harvest Flavor Curing: Fred Hempel frequently advised customers and seed savers that Maglia Rosa is one of the rare tomatoes that tastes noticeably better 48 to 72 hours after picking than right off the vine. Freshly picked fruit can have a sharp, brisk acidity; a brief rest at room temperature allows organic acids to convert into aromatic esters, creating its signature candy-like finish.
